TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?
Subject:Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab? From:Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:42:51 -0400
When the system is a privately developed (or--worse--an ad-hoc)
application, with gaping holes into which it can fall and crash, then
any documentation at all is welcomed by the sys admins. It's useless for
a tech writer to guess which crash is going to occur, but it's very
helpful for the sys admin to see a diagram of the purported
relationships between the various data sets, or to have a list of the
purported fix-it tools. If these can be organized into a set of tabs on
help documentation (please, not residing on the same system that's busy
crashing!) so much the better.
The audience includes the newly hired sys admin, who might be pleased to
see a list of key tools and concepts in a book or help page that
implores, "Know these!" Sometimes the "new hire" doing sys-admin work is
the manager who was the only one available at 02:00 on Sunday, and he's
reaching back ten years trying to figure out what to do. Asking that
manager to review the docs as if he had suddenly been pressed into
service to fix a crash might be quite helpful.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and
publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial. http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
